Old Pasadena Thanks Parking Meters for the Change

In auto-obsessed Southern California, it is often despised. Seen as a threat to pocketbook and personal freedom. Scorned by drivers looking to go where they want, park where they need to and keep their cars plopped down on city streets as long as necessary.

But there is one place where the parking meter gets good love: Pasadena, where it is heralded as a savior.

The reason becomes clear to anyone strolling through Old Pasadena, one of the region's most walkable and well-appointed shopping districts, thanks to an unusual plan for using meter money specifically for street improvements. Merchants say that all the quarters, dimes and nickels pumped into the meters and then reinvested in Old Pasadena helped to usher in change.

A 21-block district, Old Pasadena has been transformed over the last decade from a moribund place known as the city's skid row into something both special and profitable. It now bustles with people, restaurants and high-end shops. The district's metamorphosis is underscored by rising sales tax revenue, which reached nearly $140 million last year, a sevenfold increase since 1990.

"We've come a long, long way," said Marilyn Buchanan, a longtime property owner in the district. "This might seem silly to some people, but if not for our parking meters, it's hard to imagine we'd have the kind of success we're enjoying

In the 1980s and early '90s, businesses and residents in Old Pasadena were focused on reinjecting some verve into the neighborhood, which in the early 1900s was the center of Pasadena's commercial and civic life. Decisions to preserve the district's historic architecture sparked the change, grabbed the headlines and eventually helped attract businesses such as Crate and Barrel, Banana Republic and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Far less heralded was Old Pasadena's decision to leverage its parking. There were no meters on Old Pasadena streets then. Drivers could park and leave their cars for two hours. Many did, particularly those who worked in the neighborhood. They tended to gobble up good parking spots near their jobs, leave their cars for a couple of hours, then move to another choice parking spot to avoid getting a ticket. The result: Finding parking in Old Pasadena was tough, and there were few good spaces for shoppers and no real benefit for businesses.